Tuesday, July 29, 2014

“A COOK’S TOUR - IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT MEAL” by ANTHONY BOURDAIN, AUTHOR OF “KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL”



After reading Anthony Bourdain’s “Bone in the Throat”, a murder mystery, I had low expectations for his “A Cook’s Tour - In Search of the Perfect Meal.”  After reading just a few pages of this book, however, I concluded that Bourdain is significantly better at writing about real people and real events than he is at making up characters and events for a novel.  In fact, in this book he shows his talents as a writer with well articulated descriptions and personal insights.  

“A Cook’s Tour” was the basis for Bourdain’s travel series on Food Network.  Each chapter highlights Bourdain’s trip to a new location, including cities in Cambodia, Vietnam, Portugal, France, Spain, Russia, America (San Francisco and Napa Valley), and so on.  As the title suggests, Bourdain was in search of the perfect meal.  Interestingly, some of those meals consisted of eating an iguana, an entire four-foot long cobra, beginning with the still pumping heart and a cup of its blood, and many, many other animal parts that we typically don’t find at our local American restaurants.  Bourdain writes about these meals with fascinating detail, and without censorship.  I found myself laughing out loud, squirming, feeling horrified, and experiencing a whole host of other reactions as I read about Bourdain’s adventures.  All of this made for a quick read, a desire to search out and watch his TV series, and a desire to read more of Bourdain’s travels.  

Monday, July 21, 2014

FRIED GREEN TOMATO SALAD & CHEF JOE RANDALL'S COOKING SCHOOL, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

About 15 years ago, a little group of friends, including Kevin and I, started a tradition of spending a weekend together, out of town, cooking, eating, drinking wine, visiting garden centers, golfing, biking and any other activities that we found to do in that town.  We love the tradition and have had so much fun together and made many fun memories over the years.  This year, to celebrate our 15th (or so) anniversary we decided to venture further away from this area, to a place none of us had been to previously.  All of us are well traveled; so finding a place was a challenge.   One person suggested Savannah, Georgia and almost immediately we decided that was the place to go.

We all came up with ideas for activities but one idea was of interest to everyone:  A Southern Cooking Class, Lecture and Demonstration by Chef Joe Randall.  Check him out here





The menu consisted of:
* Savannah Crab Cakes with Herb Mustard Aioli, 
* Warm Fried Green Tomatoes on Bibb Lettuce with Buttermilk Dressing, 
* Roasted Rack of Sage-Rubbed Pork with Madeira Jus Lie, 
* Savannah Red Rice, 
* Southern Fried Corn, and for dessert 
* Brown Butter Peach Cinnamon Pecan Tart with Bourbon Custard Sauce.
Needless to say, when we were done, we were stuffed!  Everything was absolutely delicious! 

My personal favorite, and a good thing to make at this time of year, is the Salad of Warm Fried Green Tomatoes on Bibb Lettuce.  



In case you aren't sure, green tomatoes are simply unripe red tomatoes.  Why wait until they are red to eat them?  Extend the tomato season!  Here's the recipe which consists of three main parts - Buttermilk Dressing,  Fried Green Tomatoes,  and the other salad ingredients:

BUTTERMILK DRESSING.  Makes 12 servings.
*  1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
*  3/4 cup buttermilk
*  1-1/2 cloves garlic, minced
*  2-1/4 tablespoons Vidalia onion, or any sweet onion, minced
*  1-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
*  2-1/4 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
*  3/8 teaspoon salt
*  3/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, onion, vinegar, and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until ready to serve; will keep 2 to 3 days.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.  Makes 8 servings.
*  1/4 cup buttermilk
*  1/4 cup milk
*  1 egg, beaten
*  1/2 cup cornmeal
*  1/4 cup all-purpose flour
*  1 teaspoon salt
*  1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
*  1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
*  3 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-1/3" thick
*  1 cup peanut oil for frying
In a bowl combine buttermilk, milk and egg.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl stir together cornmeal, flour, salt, black and cayenne peppers.  Dip tomato slices in milk and egg mixture, then dredge in cornmeal and flour mixture.  Coat well.  Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and cook tomato slices 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve hot.

WARM FRIED GREEN TOMATOES ON BIBB LETTUCE WITH BUTTERMILK DRESSING.  Makes 8 servings.
*  2 heads Bibb lettuce, torn
*  16 prepared Fried Green Tomato slices (Recipe above.)
*  2 tablespoons sliced green onions
*  2 cups Buttermilk Dressing (Recipe above.)
Chill 8 salad plates in the refrigerator.  Arrange the Bibb lettuce in the center of the chilled salad plates and arrange two sliced fried green tomatoes on lettuce.  Pour a little buttermilk dressing all over the salad.  Garnish each serving with sliced green onions.

Trust me, this salad was DELICIOUS!!

If you make the trip to Savannah, talk to Chef Randall about a class.  It was great fun, and a wonderful meal.  

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

RHUBARB CURD.

I bet I have more rhubarb recipes on this blog than any other kind of recipe, but my rhubarb plants are prolific producers and I can't imagine not using the rhubarb.

A couple members of my cooking club were interested in the recipe for Rhubarb Curd in Rhubarb Renaissance, by Kim Ode.  I said that I would send the recipe to them but since I had a lot of rhubarb on hand, I thought I would also make the recipe.  I made two substitutions: 1) grape juice instead of cranberry juice, and 2) salted butter instead of unsalted.  These substitutions seemed to work well.  Here is the recipe as shown in the book.

RHUBARB CURD.  Makes about 1-1/2 cups.
*  2-1/2 cups rhubarb, cut in half-inch pieces
*  1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
*  1/3 cup cranberry juice
*  4 egg yolks
*  Pinch of salt
*  2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, cut in four pieces.

Combine rhubarb, 1/3 cup sugar, and cranberry juice in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until rhubarb breaks down into a sauce, about 10 minutes.  Set aside.

Bring about 2 inches of water to a boil in a saucepan over which a medium bowl will fit.  While the water is heating, whisk together the egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.  Reduce heat to keep the water at a simmer and place the bowl over the saucepan, whisking constantly until the yolk mixture begins to thicken.

When the yolks are quite warm, whisk in the rhubarb mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.  Add the butter a piece at a time, mixing well, then set aside to cool.  Refrigerate for up to a week.


Rhubarb, grape juice and sugar

Egg yolks, sugar and salt

Rhubarb curd is good with all of the same things as lemon or orange curd:  scones, in desserts, on toast, and so many other things.  The prepared curd will last about a week in the refrigerator.